This is the last day of the preorder raffle, so don’t miss this interview with prizes!

Jilanne Hoffmann visited my blog once before. She has been a zoo train engineer, a waitress, a “real” engineer, a fitness trainer, a tai chi instructor, a freelance writer for nonprofit organizations, and now enjoys writing stories for kids and adults. She has a BS in Engineering and an MFA in creative writing. Her picture book, A River of Dust, was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book, a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, and an SCBWI Crystal Kite Winner. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, son, and rescue dog named Wrigley. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, or BlueSky.

THE OCEAN’S HEART: THE TINY CREATURES ESSENTIAL TO LIFE is a nonfiction picture book that once again uses amazing lyrical prose. This book tells the story of zooplankton, the tiniest sea creatures, and their nightly migration. They are in danger and entire ecosystem depends upon them. This is a fascinating look at the unexplored life cycle of zooplankton in the specific location of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. And I do mean fascinating! The illustrations by Khoa Le are gorgeous to boot, based on microscopic photos as well as satellite imagery.

Welcome back Jilanne!

Me: While you were on my blog before and I shared a bit of your bio, I never got to ask you about your writing journey. When did you start writing picture books? How has that brought you to writing this particular picture book?

Jilanne: Although I love engineering and the cool science behind it, my heart belongs to the world of communication. So I migrated from being an engineer to writing about science topics. I earned an MFA for writing for adults, but after my son was born, I discovered the transformative world of picture books. Then it took nine long years before I transitioned from freelancing to try my hand at writing for kids. Once I started, I was hooked! In 2012, I joined SCBWI, joined 12×12 in 2013, and over the next few years attended several Highlights workshops, took Susanna Hill’s Making PB Magic course and Renée LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab course, and had a bad experience with an agent that nearly killed my interest in kidlit. Then I became one of Bethany Hegedus’s mentees at the Writing Barn, was infused with her enthusiasm, signed with my fabulous agent, Lori Steel, and found my first book, A RIVER OF DUST selling at auction. The entire process, from decision to write for kids to first book publication spanned a little over ten years. And as you’ll see below, writing about dust led to writing about zooplankton.

Me: Calling zooplankton the heart of the ocean is certainly something I’ve never seen before. What an analogy! What brought zooplankton to your attention? What gave you the idea to write about them in the picture format?

Jilanne: While I was researching A RIVER OF DUST, I discovered that the NASA satellite that measured the dust in the atmosphere (CALIPSO) also observed the nightly rise and fall of zooplankton in the ocean. First, I was amazed that a satellite using LIDAR (like SONAR and RADAR, only using light) could “see” into the depths of the ocean. And second, I was more than amazed that zooplankton constitute the largest mass migration of animals on Earth every single night! I wanted kids to know about and understand this migration, and most importantly to care about these animals. So often our empathy gravitates toward the natural charisma of the cute, furry, fierce, or huge animals on this planet. But the minute I dove into blackwater photography, the more entranced I became with the exquisite beauty of these fragile creatures that form the foundation of the ocean’s food web. Creatures that we’re just now learning more about through organizations like the Monterey Bay and Woods Hole Oceanographic research institutes. And illustrations were key to luring kids into this extraordinary world. 

Me: Your first picture book was about dust. Your second picture book is about zooplankton. It’s easy to say that both of these are not easily seen by the human eye. Are you obsessed with the microscopic? Why write poetic picture books about something no one can easily see? 

Jilanne: Ha! I’m a champion of the tiny! But really I’m a champion of the glorious beauty offered up to us by planet Earth. And lyricism naturally feeds into that beauty. But I’m also a fan of taking a close look at our world to see how we’re connected in ways we may never know…unless we learn about them! And I want kids to realize that many of these tiny creatures transform into animals they recognize. Yet also as the book points out at the beginning, some zooplankton are extremely tiny, while others can grow quite large and remain plankton. In fact, a siphonophore can grow longer than a blue whale! Kids also need to know that some of their favorites, like jellyfish and comb jellies with their rippling, refractive rainbow cilia, remain zooplankton and part of this nightly migration, too.  

Me: Zooplankton are profuse (billions!) with an enormous amount of variations all over the ocean (and many species yet to be discovered!). How did you come to focus your story on just one region of the ocean’s zooplankton? Why the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary located off the central California coast specifically?

Jilanne: I live about two hours north of Monterey Bay, and LOVE the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Monterey Bay Research Institute (associated with the aquarium) is one of the finest marine biology research centers on the planet. They have an incredible website, where people anywhere in the world can see (and listen to) live videos of sea creatures and learn more about them. They also have an extensive array of amazing and fun resources for teachers and parents.

But why this bay? It has an unusual geologic structure, marking the entrance to a deep ocean canyon that’s comparable to the Grand Canyon and quickly accessible from shore. Compared to the east coast where researchers spend days on a ship to reach and then study the deep ocean, researchers in the bay can go out and collect samples or make observations using submersibles in the canyon and then return within hours.

And since, as you say, species vary so widely around the world, it was also important that the species shown reflect a specific ecosystem. That way, Khoa Le could have a well-defined reference point from which to create her illustrations. She wouldn’t be mixing species that didn’t belong together. When Steven Haddock, senior marine biologist at MBARI (and all around nice guy) agreed to review the content for the book (at every phase), it was a no-brainer for the story to be set in the bay. 

Me: Can you tell us a bit about your research process for this book? How long did it take you to research all the different facts and tidbits that went into this story? Any favorite discoveries or research methods?

Jilanne: Months of research. Blackwater photography books mesmerized me. I learned the difference between the animals that stay zooplankton into adulthood, including jellyfish, and those that are only zooplankton in their juvenile stages, like octopuses, squid, starfish, crabs, and almost all fish. Everything about them is amazing, including the different ways they eat, move, create light, and escape predators or capture prey. That’s why it was essential to use an array of active verbs in the narrative.

And their structures (Haddock calls them KINETIC GLASS!) are hugely varied and fragile. But unlike glass, scientists struggle to study them without turning them into a pile of melting Jell-O. So they must capture them in containers already filled with sea water. Even then, they can disintegrate.

Me: Khoa Le’s illustrations in this book are stunning. As per usual she went all in for the illustrations in this book. Those end papers based on NASA satellite images of Monterey Bay are gorgeous! Did she research on her own, or did you share research? Did you have any illustration surprises? Any favorites?

Jilanne: Khoa is phenomenal! I knew she needed a starting point, and I didn’t want her to reinvent the research wheel. So I provided a six-page document filled with links and background information that would help her sift through options for each spread. But of course she didn’t stop there! She’s an ocean diver and brought her own experiences to the illustration process. In fact, she wrote a wonderful blog post about it. Check it out! 

And the illustration surprise? For a book that happens under cover of darkness, it embodies the luminescence of the sea. When I read the book, it feels like I’m holding pure light. And if I must pick a favorite illustration, it’s the cover; the arrangement of the animals forms the shape of a human heart. Perfection!

Me: It really is! Now that you have a couple of published picture books out, what advice would you give to aspiring picture book writers?

Jilanne: Focus on how you need to tell a story. I had received a critique on THE OCEAN’S HEART from a famous author who suggested I write the narrative in standard prose. While I took other parts of her helpful advice, I kept the poetic structure. It flowed the way zooplankton rise and dive through water. If I had forced it into prose, the flow would have died. Oh, and one more thing: When I try to write to a trend or to something that doesn’t feel like me, the story suffers. And no one loves a suffering story.

Ha! That is so true. Thank you for stopping by my blog today Jilanne.

Dear readers, Jilanne is hosting a preorder prize raffle on her blog, but today is the last day you can enter (as the book publishes tomorrow). Check out all the prizes and possibilities here (but act fast!). You won’t want to miss this book. Good luck!